Education Sessions

New hires leaving within their first 90 days is costly and avoidable. This hands-on session will show you how to create a structured onboarding plan, deliver targeted training and foster early engagement. Discover actionable tools and tips to keep new employees invested, confident and contributing beyond their first three months.

Martin & Bayley, Inc.

Alisha Black

Vice President of Human Resources

As GLP-1 medications and high-protein diets influence how consumers eat, foodservice strategies are evolving. Find out how changing dietary habits are shaping menu development, including examples like Sheetz’s Eat Smart menu. Attendees will learn what today’s health-conscious consumers are looking for and identify strategies for balancing nutrition trends, protein-focused offerings and craveable convenience food.

Sheetz, Inc.

Matt High

Sr. Made to Order, Category Sales Manager

Industry experts will break down key legislative and regulatory issues shaping the convenience retail industry, including the latest developments in tobacco and nicotine regulation, labor policies, credit card fees and payments, and emerging product categories. You will learn what they mean for retailers and gain a clearer understanding of the current policy landscape and the issues that could impact your businesses.

As EV adoption accelerates, many convenience retailers are deciding whether they should own their charging infrastructure or simply host it at their stores. This panel brings together a convenience retailer and an EV charging provider to walk through real-word case studies of deploying charging infrastructure at convenience stores. With a focus on practical insights, the discussion will cover key considerations for convenience retailers, as well as how to align charging investments with business goals and measure success. By sharing both successes and lessons learned, this session will

Electrify America

Aaron Young

Senior Manager of Commercial

Wawa, Inc.

Vince Cipollone

Director of EV Charging and New Fuel Business

Convenience Connect is an exclusive opportunity for NACS supplier members to hear directly from convenience retailers about how they discover new products and maximize their time at the NACS Show. During this 90-minute session, a panel of retail leaders will share what they look for in new products, how they evaluate potential supplier partners, and tips for making meaningful connections. The session concludes with 30 minutes of networking over light refreshments, giving you the chance to continue the conversation and build valuable relationships. Don't miss this unique supplier opportunity

Max Distributing

Chris Everson

Purchasing Manager

Matrix Brokerage

Webb Roberts

President

Burdette Beckmann

John Buehler

Vice President

Onvo

Ben Lucky

Senior Director of Foodservice

Murphy USA

Roland Larino

Category Manager- General Merchandise

CrossAmerica Partners

Tim Young

Senior Category Manager

Synergy Cooperative

Troy Strand

Retail Division Manager

CHS Inc. (Cenex)

Bob Christopherson

Retail Solutions Manager

Pilot Travel Centers LLC

Nicholas Reed

Manager, Category

Business Accelerator Team

Kay Segal

Founder and President

The back bar is evolving as nicotine pouches and alternative consumables compete for limited space. Hear about strategically allocating back bar space across inhalable products, oral nicotine, traditional tobacco, and emerging categories. Gain practical insights on merchandising, balancing profitability with security concerns, and preparing for what the future of the category could look like.

7-Eleven, Inc.

Jasmeet Chawla

Vice President - Merchandising

NACS

Margaret Mannion

Director, Government Relations

Using insights from the State of the Industry (SOI) report, this session takes a deeper look at consumer spending patterns, operational variables, and what separates the top quartile from the bottom quartile within the data.

NACS

Jayme Gough

Director of Research & Development

How real-time reporting uncovers missed age verifications before they become violations.

TruAge

Lisa Rountree

Head of Customer Experience and Marketing

TruAge

Eddie McFarlane

Sales & Activation Specialist

What does convenience mean to the next generation of shoppers? In this interactive session, we explore how Gen Z and Gen Alpha define convenience with street-style interviews and real-world examples. Attendees will gain fresh perspective on emerging trends, technology expectations, and how younger consumers influence merchandising, branding and experience.

NACS

Frank Gleeson

President & CEO

Maverik, Inc.

Crystal Maggelet

CEO

NielsenIQ (NIQ)

Jason Zelinski

Vice President for North American Retail

As foodservice drives growth in convenience retail, competition with quick-service restaurants intensifies. Learn how to elevate food offerings through menu innovation, kitchen design, and digital integration to meet evolving consumer demands.

McKinsey & Company

Andrew Davis

Partner

McKinsey & Company

John Moran

Partner

Explore how convenience retailers in Asia and Europe are redefining customer experience through technology, foodservice, store design and sustainability. This session will highlight innovative concepts and emerging trends from global markets, as well as practical ideas and inspiration that can be applied to your convenience retail operations.

NACS

Mark Wohltmann

Director

Liquid fuels will dominate transportation for decades to come, but competition for gasoline customers will become more intense as vehicle efficiency improves. Winning those customers and capitalizing on their visits is critical to the long-term profitability of your business. What will it take to become the fueling destination of choice and how can you get the most value from each customer? This session will explore options for generating customer loyalty and leveraging your forecourt to boost the profitability of your operations.

What makes certain leaders energizing to be around, and how can you become one of them? In this session, Emma Seppälä, faculty director of Yale’s Women’s Leadership Program, explores the science and practice of positively energizing leadership. She’ll share practical strategies to build resilience, strengthen relationships and elevate team performance in today’s demanding workplace.

Yale School of Management

Emma Seppälä

Lecturer in Management

Hemp-derived THC beverages create an opportunity for growth in convenience stores as an emerging category. Industry experts will explore what retailers need to know about selling these age-restricted products responsibly, how the category fits into convenience retail, and the future of the these products as federal and state legislation and regulations develop.

Coalition for Adult Beverage Alternatives

Diana Eberlein

Chair

The Spinx Company, Inc.

Hayley Thrift

Director of Public Relations

Drawing from extensive research beyond the industry's confines, the 2026 Conexxus Technology Roadmap outlines the technological and cultural shifts that continue to shape the retail landscape. The roadmap will help you navigate and thrive within the constantly changing technology landscape. Don't miss this opportunity to prepare today for the future.

NACS

Gray Taylor

Strategic Advisor, Strategic Initiatives

CHS Inc. (Cenex)

Donald Emery

Senior Manager, Product

Conexxus

Linda Toth

Executive Director

Yesway

Robert Hampton

Chief Technology Officer

Explore the key findings from the NACS Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council’s latest study on trip drivers in convenience retail. Find out what motivates consumers to visit stores, what influences their purchasing decisions, and how these behaviors are evolving. The discussion will highlight actionable strategies retailers can use to align with shopper needs and increase trip frequency and basket size.

Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council

Michael Sansolo

Research Director

Cadent Consulting Group LLC

Richard Bode

CEO

Cadent Consulting Group LLC

Gavin Stoecker

Principal

Casey's General Stores, Inc.

Tom Brennan

Chief Merchandising Officer

Sheetz, Inc.

Ryan Sheetz

EVP, Marketing & Supply Chain

See how mobile driver's licenses and digital IDs are changing in-store verification—and what retailers need to do next.

TruAge

Paul Ziv

VP Technology

Retail media networks are becoming a powerful revenue and marketing tool for retailers. In this session, experts will share real-world case studies showing how retailers are using these platforms to create value for their brands and stores. Learn strategies for launching or participating in a network, including how smaller operators can get started and ensure their media offerings deliver measurable ROI.

Circle K

Joell Robinson

Director Retail Media Network

Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores

Tommy Greenberg

GM, Love’s Media Group

4Court Media by Dover Fueling Solutions

Dan Seymour

Commercial Partnership Lead

What if your store managers could spend less time on paperwork and more time leading people? This session highlights practical ways to lighten the load, including centralized recruiting models and streamlined administrative processes that cut hours of daily work. Hear how companies like TXB are redesigning responsibilities so managers can focus on hiring decisions, team development and culture—not redundant tasks.

TXB Stores

Nathan Graham

Director of Human Resources

Casey's General Stores, Inc.

Sherri Hart

VP, HR Field Operations

The NACS Leadership for Success Program brings the brightest industry supervisors together to develop their personal leadership skills and become better leaders. For the past five months, participants have been working on reducing turnover, increasing employee engagement, and developing store managers by creating plans, setting goals, and tracking their progress. They are ready to share the results! Hear what worked (and what didn’t) as they sought to develop and strengthen their teams.

Among the most profitable customer segments of the convenience industry are the small fleet operators like the construction and landscape companies and the local and regional trucking companies. These fleets refuel several times each week and stock up on provisions from your stores. They also buy a lot of diesel fuel, which in 2025 generated average margins of 52 cents per gallon. How can you leverage your diesel fuel offer and gain the loyalty of these companies and their employees? It’s time to make diesel sexy again and capitalize on the profit opportunity.

Make sure your AI investment doesn’t create more complexity than value. This session equips retail leaders with a practical guide to evaluating and purchasing AI solutions and how to avoid costly traps. Explore common pitfalls such as hidden fees, usage-based pricing, subscription sprawl and integration challenges that can undermine ROI. The discussion will break down total cost of ownership across on-prem and SaaS models while highlighting the key questions to ask before making an investment.

Atlantis Management

Rick Rigby

CTO

Residential embedded convenience retail is a new category where convenience is the amenity. Hear from leaders at Urban Value Corner Store as they share how their business model rethinks traditional assumptions around traffic patterns, customer engagement and retail placement by operating inside multifamily, mixed-use, student housing, and master-planned communities.

Urban Value Corner Store

Steve McKinley

CEO/Founder

This session explores how to market a foodservice program in a way that builds trust, reinforces brand credibility, and drives long-term customer behavior—not just short-term traffic. Participants will learn how to evaluate whether their marketing is truly working, align messaging with operational reality, and design foodservice offers that resonate with their core customers.

Southwest Georgia Oil Co., Inc. dba SunStop Stores

Michelle Weckstein

Director of Food and Beverage Brands

Kwik Trip, Inc.

David Jackson

Director of Marketing and Loyalty